3T Writing Tidbit - How to Get Started

 Openings. Grr. They're my nemesis. How do you get started when your reader needs to know all your wonderful characters and all the things leading up to the brilliant events that happen in your plot and all the quirks of your fictional world and... and... and...

What?!?! Readers want a story, not an information dump. Forget all that stuff you need to give them to "get started". Most of my favorite books start with:

1 character

doing something interesting

-or-

1 character

presenting a question the reader will want answered

-or-

no character at all!

Here are some first lines that demonstrate the above, some taken from Libby Life.

“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” -William Goldman, The Princess Bride

“It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” -George Orwell, 1984 

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” -Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones

“When I first set eyes on Evelyn Barton-Forbes she was walking the streets of Rome --
(I am informed, by the self-appointed Critic who reads over my shoulder as I write, that I have already committed an error. If those seemingly simple English words do indeed imply that which I am told they imply to the vulgar, I must in justice to Evelyn find other phrasing.)” -Elizabeth Peters, Crocodile on the Sandbank

“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.” -Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” -Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

"Green sky at night; hacker's delight." -Charles Stross, The Atrocity Archives

Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.